Monday, June 16, 2014

Ribfest 5 miler

Larissa Park and I arrived early as planned. I had to set up shop and hand out clothing to half a dozen CMS guys who have been waiting patiently for their order. It is so good to look like a uniformed team - as in wearing the same Saucony threads and colors. The BAE parking lot was just a 1/3 of a mile away from registration so I headed over with Scott Leslie around 8:15 to grab my bib number and technical shirt. I did a light warm up and then came upon a frantic Morgan Kennedy who just arrived. There was no time to spare so I helped him get his bib number. Two minutes later, we were getting the call to line up. The start was narrow but I got in five rows from the front - my usual seeding. The start went off and up a hill and onto a very wide highway for 1.8 miles. I was in good company - around Joe Navas, Jason Porter, and Wayne Levy in mile 1. The head wind was a factor but dealt with it. The mile marker seemed early as my Garmin beeped several seconds later (my Garmin feedback seemed off the whole time so who knows). Joe Shairs, Matt Veiga, and Andy McCarron were about 5-7 seconds ahead of me into mile 2 which was in a shaded neighborhood. Mile three was reached leaving the residential 'hood and back up onto the highway lined with orange cones.

I managed to reel in Andy just before 4 miles. The road was long and straight so it was easy to see who was ahead. There was no hiding anywhere on this course. I started to accept that I had no chance of catching Joe or Matt without a huge surge. I was all out and the internal effort gauge said I was at max. I was seeking that left hand turn and into the downhill finish in a hurry. I got there without any finishing kick highlight - just wrapped it up type of finish - 27:54.91 chip time and 67th place overall. My average pace per mile, 5:35, was good for the 9th CMS team runner. My time was about 10 seconds slower than the Back Shore 5 that I did last month in Gloucester. Not sure what to make of that but my goal for the day was to run between 27:30 and certainly under 28 minutes which was accomplished. I slowly regrouped with the mates and recapped a few stories before heading out for a cool down with Larissa, Morgan, and Matt. The highly anticipated Ribfest festivities awaited. I rushed in and out for a slice of pizza and a soda as it was fathers day and I had to hustle back home to chill with dad. It was good to see the CMS masters team take a win and the open and senior teams placing 4th place respectively in an always competitive team competition. So many good stories in there that don't get print like PR's set by Colby, Arthur, and Morgan. New CMS member and neighbor, Matt Veiga raced well even though he'd prefer a mountain to ascend and descend. Martin raced with broken ribs. Talk about man'g up.

My bogus Garmin splits are below. They are off all the way so I will blame the GPS powers for the mess.